threet

Russell, We have an 2 month old 2010 Ford Escape, 6 cylinder, two wheel drive, and towed it for the first time last Saturday. We had our home Ford dealer check and lower the transmission fluid level before leaving. We ran the car for 5 minutes, went through recommended gear sequence, and did not exceed 65 mph. This is day one of a 3 month trip for us. Someone motioned for us to pull over after 160 miles, the car was smoking and oil everywhere. Of course this happened on a Saturday, so no one could look at it until Monday. We are still waiting to hear back from the area Ford dealer. Very frustrating, we are 200 miles from home, and 800 miles from our destination. If someone could tell us something, at least we could decide which way to go. We had to rent a car, since they only give loaners to people that have purchased an extended warranty. We have already paid for our destination campground (all our friends are waiting on us), and now are having to pay here as well. Not to mention the 100 degree temperatures! We are retired and spend more time RVing than we do at home. As much as we love the car, we would have never considered purchasing a Ford Escape if the owner's manual had not indicated it could be towed 4 wheels down. Wish we had read this forum before we had problems. Seems like Ford would have fixed this by now. If they are buying back cars, they apparently have known about this problem since they went with the new transmission in the 2009 models. Hope you had better luck than us! Let us know.